Word: feldstein
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Marshall Loeb, eat your words, and if Martin Feldstein agrees, he may join you. I refer to "The Surest Social Security" [Oct. 23]: "it is now a good deal for beneficiaries because they paid in low taxes years ago and are now collecting hefty benefits." You do not consider the low salaries of the years in which many beneficiaries were contributing and the small benefits that resulted...
Martin S. Feldstein '61, professor of Economics, believes that consulting can be professionally beneficial. Feldstein, president of the non-profit National Bureau of Economic Research, noted that "if you're in economic development and you're sitting in Cambridge you won't know anything, because Cambridge is not that underdeveloped." He cited the example of a professor who studies industrial organization, and said that he would "learn a lot more about how a business thinks if they're paying you...If I'm in industrial organization and want to know how Gillette makes it marketing decisions...I couldn...
...solution is not to reduce Social Security benefits but to slow their great growth, permitting private pensions and personal savings to carry more of the load. That will indeed occur, Feldstein is convinced, "because politicians and union members will recognize that Social Security is becoming a lousy deal for people who pay into the system today." True, it is now a good deal for beneficiaries because they paid in low taxes years ago and are now collecting hefty benefits. But Social Security taxes are scheduled to rise so fast - from a top of $1,071 this year...
...France permits anyone to put away some $20,000 in savings, with the interest payments untaxed. The Europeans further build capital by allowing companies to write off quickly the costs of their new plants and equipment against their taxes. Surely the U.S. needs to liberalize these depreciation allowances, says Feldstein, probably by letting the tax write-offs rise along with the rate of inflation...
...just 1% more of its G.N.P. into savings, it would have $20 billion more in seed capital. Says Feldstein: "It really comes down to this: If we save more, we grow faster. Surely we should take this good opportunity to forgo a bit today in order to gain a lot more tomorrow." To which it might be added that the "lot more tomorrow" would be the best social security for everybody...